Friday, January 29, 2010

Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman issued the following statement on the news that the nation's GDP grew by 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, the fastest growth since 2003--a sign that the national economy is moving out of recession:

"Today's news that the GDP has grown at its fastest rate since 2003 is a welcome sign that our nation's economy is turning a corner. President Obama and Democratic Leaders have worked tirelessly to implement smart policies like the Recovery Act that will help our economy grow and end the decline we experienced due to failed Republican policies.

"But as President Obama has made clear, our unemployment rate is still unacceptably high. Until every Floridian has a job, until every student is able to attend college, and until folks are able to stay in their homes and make their monthly mortgage payments, the President and Democratic Leaders will continue working to build our economy and create growth for the long-term. Floridians call on Republicans like Gov. Charlie Crist, former Speaker Marco Rubio and Sen. George LeMieux to stop playing politics with Florida's jobs and start working with Democrats to move our country forward. The Sunshine State deserves nothing less."

Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus, an arm of the Florida Democratic Party representing the Sunshine State's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) residents, will hold its winter conference in St. Petersburg Friday, February 26 through Sunday, February 28.The event, whose theme is OUTburst!, is hosted by the Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County and is being held to coincide with the Pinellas County DEC dinner.

Speakers include a wide range of state, local and national political figures and candidates, including a number of Florida's openly-gay elected officials.Expected to participate are Attorney General candidates Dan Gelber and Dave Aronburg; US Senate candidates Kendrick Meek, Maurice Ferre and Kevin Burns; Alabama's first openly-gay member of the state legislature, Patricia Todd; Michael Mitchell, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats; Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Scott Arceneaux; and White House Deputy Director of Public Engagement Brian Bond (invited).Also participating are several of Florida's openly-gay elected officials, including St. Petersburg Councilmember Steve Kornell, Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner, and Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl.

In addition, the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus PAC and the National Stonewall Democrats PAC will host a joint fundraiser Saturday immediately following the conference.Themed "Honoring Florida's GLBT Elected Officials," this event is a separate ticket and will feature a number of the state's openly-gay elected leaders.

Early registration through February 19 is $55 for Caucus members is $65 for non-members, which covers the cost of the event and includes continental breakfast and lunch on Saturday. After February 19 the registration fee will increase to $60 for Caucus members and $75 for non-members.The conference hotel is the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront, located at 333 First Street South.Participants can register for the conference and the joint Caucus PAC/National Stonewall Democrats PAC fundraiser, and make hotel reservations at www.floridaGLBTdemocrats.org.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

After one bad Senate election, most Democrats in Washington are on the verge of full-fledged retreat and everything we've fought for together hangs in the balance.

They have signaled they are open to dramatically scaling back health care reform. The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee says he might gut the financial reform bill to appease Republicans. And on top of all that, the Supreme Court just opened the floodgates of corporate cash on politics!

Retreat is exactly the wrong message for Democrats to take from recent election losses. The lesson from Massachusetts is that voters want more change -- not less. It's time for Democrats to stand up to corporate interests and fight for working families by passing healthcare reform and taking on Wall Street.

So Democracy for America members are joining with our friends at MoveOn in organizing emergency rallies nationwide on Tuesday to demand Democrats show backbone and leadership -- starting with passage of real healthcare reform.

We need a big turnout to show Democrats we're still waiting on them to deliver the change we voted for on healthcare and everything else.

Make no mistake; Democrats still have the ability to pass healthcare reform and other progressive legislation. Even after last Tuesday's election loss, Democrats still have larger majorities in Congress than Republicans ever did under George W. Bush.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

A bill that would add homelessness to the list of hate crime enhancements in the State of Florida passed unopposed in both House and Senate subcommittees.

With Florida leading the nation in the number of attacks on the homeless, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti created the Hate Crimes Anti-Bias Task Force in October 2008 to address the problem.

Lamberti also saw the need for legislative changes and solicited the help of State Representative Ari Porth (D) and Senator Jeremy Ring (D). As a result, HB 11 sponsored by Porth and SB 506 sponsored by Ring were created and both bills passed unanimously this week in the House Committee on Public Safety and Domestic Security Policy and the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice.

"I found these unprovoked attacks against our homeless population disturbing, and while I wanted to know why, I also knew that action was needed," Sheriff Lamberti said. "Discrimination against any member of our society can't be tolerated."

Following the brutal beatings of the homeless in Fort Lauderdale that made national news, last year Maryland passed similar legislation that expanded its hate-crime law to add stiffer penalties for attacks on the homeless – the first state in the nation to do so. Sheriff Lamberti hopes Florida will follow Maryland's lead.

While in Tallahassee this week, BSO Commander Richard Wierzbicki testified before the subcommittees about the severity of the homeless situation in Broward and the state. "This is only the first hurdle, but once this bill becomes law it will go a long way toward protecting the homeless," said Commander Wierzbicki, member of the task force.

The task force hopes to partner this year with the BrowardCountySchool District to start a tolerance and diversity program.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

The recent earthquake in Haiti has caused a level of devastation that we hope most us will never have to suffer through in our lifetimes. .

This site s called "Charity Navigator" will provide an overview of a dozen or so charities that are currentlyactive in the Haitian relief efforts.

In their own words:

" Here are a few of our 3 and 4-star charitiesresponding to the crisis along with a synopsis of their plans. Each ofthese charities has a history of working on massive disasters and/or of working in Haiti"

Do Not Send Supplies –

Knowing that millions of peopleare desperately in need of food and water, it is hard not to want topack up a box of supplies and send it to Haiti. But this type of philanthropy is simply not practical or efficient.Even if mail could get to Haiti, no one is set up to receive thesegoods, much less organize and distribute them to the victims.Furthermore, charities are often able to partner with companies toacquire large amounts of in-kind donations such as bottled water and new clothing. Instead of boxing up and sending your old clothing, have a garage sale and turn your used goods into cash and donate that to a worthy charity.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Again! It's no surprise that "pain clinics" have been onthe rise. Lax oversight and regulation of theseclinics have made it exceedingly easy forcriminals to operate and own them. For manyowners, the goal in owning and operating these clinics is not to provide pain relief tothose who truly need it, but to legally trafficprescription drugs. Far too many tragic deathshave resulted from these so-called "pill mills,"often feeding the addictions of Florida's youngpeople.The statistics are staggering: There are nowmore "pain clinics" in Broward County thanthere are McDonalds. More than 1.1 millionoxycodone pills are dispensed each month inBroward County even though the totalpopulation of the county is 1.7 million.Legalized painkillers now cause three timesthe number of deaths than illegal drugs. Anestimated 9 Floridians die per day fromprescription drug abuse.

It's unfortunate and tragic how many lettersand e-mails I receive each week from familiesbegging me to do something about this terribleproblem. Here are a couple of excerpts fromconstituents:"I have been the victim of this horribledisease of having three beautiful sons addictedto this Oxycontin. We have been through helland back, I never know when I will wake up inthe morning and find my sons dead...but thesedoctors make it so easy, last week one of mysons even got a letter with a huge gold star,20% off if he comes back...I hope there issomething that all of us could do before it is toolate...""I lost a 24 year old son last year to just such aproblem [pain clinics]. He was getting medspretty easy through a doctor here in PalmBeach County...The laws seem to be outdatedand geared to keep the doctors in business andthe users in jail instead of getting help."

"I have made providing greater oversight overthese clinics one of my top priorities for the2010 legislative session. Last session, I co-sponsored a successful bill to establish aprescription drug-monitoring program to helpreduce "doctor shopping" and to provide someoversight over the pill mills but more needs tobe done.This session, I have already filed SB 646, whichwill require that only licensed physicians ingood standing can own a pain clinic. The billalso limits the dispensing of these dangerouspainkillers to doctors and pharmacists onpremises.We need to allow responsible doctors tocontinue to help those suffering from chronicpain, and stop ex-felons and those with sinistermotives from turning pain clinics into pill mills.We cannot afford anything else, and Floridiansdeserve nothing less.

Our fight against consumer fraud continues! Since the beginning of 2003, my office has assisted in the return of more than $4.1 million to people who have called about being ripped off.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

This week, I became an editor for Topix.com. I will be editing the Broward County Florida News Page. I have used a domain owned by me http://BrowardNews.org to re-direct to the topix.com Broward Page. Please visit the page and forward any comments to editor@BrowardNews.org

Topix has gone on to create a community news platform, and popular forum system, allowing users to comment on news articles and the goings on of local communities.[3]

What is Topix.com?

Topix is the world's largest community news website. You can read, talk about the news on over 360,000 of our news pages. Whatever your interests are, we have a news page for you!

Topix is also a place for you to post your own news stories, as well as comment about stories you've seen on the Topix site. Each story and every Topix page comes with the ability to add your voice to the conversation.

Here are just a few of the types of news pages on Topix:

All US cities and towns

Publicly traded companies

Sports and Professional Athletes

Celebrities

Industry news

Health and Drug

If you have a story or item you would like to see posted on Broward News please send to tips@browardnews.org

If, you have a news story or blog post please send the url with the email or you can write your own news item or even a press release and I may post to topix.com giving you wide international exposure.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Senator Dave Aronberg To Make Inquiry Into State's Emergency Preparedness

in Wake of Ex-EOC Chief Resignation

State Senator Dave Aronberg (D-Greenacres) , chairman of the Senate Military Affairs and Domestic Security Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the recent changes at the Division of Emergency Management.

"In the recent wake of yet another attempted terrorist attack over American soil, I have serious questions about the impact the alleged actions of the previous interim director may have had on the Division of Emergency Management, its resources, and our preparedness.

"To that end, I have sent a letter on behalf of the committee to the new interim director David Halstead with a series of questions intended to ascertain the readiness of his agency in the wake of recent top personnel changes and any resulting vulnerabilities. Depending on the information we receive, our committee may request Mr. Halstead's appearance at an upcoming meeting."